Not only one way to teach...

Once again, I was unbelievably enlightened by Monday night lecture. When Jim told us that we would be having speakers coming in again, I immediately was thinking of a repeat episode of the library talk. However, when he mentioned they were administrators, I gave the lecture a little more hope. Needless to say, the discussion that occurred between the class and the administrators was perfect in every way. Ever since I can remember, I have loved talking with other teachers about teaching. Hearing their stories and insights has offered many a variety of perspectives on teaching and reshaped many of my decisions about the teaching profession. Not only did these two administrators bring great experience into the discussion but they also represented areas of education that I have not experienced. One was a high school activities director and assistant principal and the other was a middle school principal. Despite being from my particular area of interest, they offered information that could be applied to any aspect of the profession.
One of the main ideas that dominated the discussion was the topic of NCLB or No Child Left Behind. This has also been a main topic in our individual classes because it is relatively new legislation and has greatly changed the teaching profession. Because we were provided with a list of questions that would be addressed, I was not surprised that the topic was brought up but I was sincerely surprised with the answer both administrators gave in response. Instead of negativity, both administrators stressed the idea of multiple ways to teach something. The middle school principal offered the view that some teachers will teach to the test and blame the test but the good teachers find ways to make learning for the tests just as fun and creative as other aspects of the day. The high school administrator reiterated this by stressing that there are many ways to introduce ideas and teachers are more than equipped because they already change lesson plans to fit different learning styles. I found this idea to be very enlightening because, like many of my classmates, I have been surrounded by the negativity with NCLB. Although I realize that NCLB will affect my teaching career, I realize now that the extent of its effect is completely left up to me, the teacher.

The website below is a link to the NEA's website about NCLB

http://www.nea.org/esea/index.html